Monday, 31 March 2014

My friend sent me this picture taken at 송파나루공원 - 석촌호수 (Songpa Naru Park -Seokchon lake) this afternoon. Told her to check out the place becos I love the cherry blossom there. The whole place was like a fairytale to me ㅋㅋㅋ

Cherry blossoms bloom much earlier than the actual forecast this year. Seoul was much warmer this March compared to the previous years. I realised I have missed the cherry blossom by only A WEEK!!!! *Scream*

Told 재 I am so sad that I missed the flowers by a week. 사실은 당신에게 이렇게 말하고 싶어요. 당신이 벚꽃보다 더 그립다고...

Sunday, 30 March 2014

The itinerary for the day was a day trip to 울산 Ulsan for 대왕암공원 Daewangam Park and 신전시장 Sinjeong Sang-ga Market, followed by 깡통시장 Busan Bupyeong Kkangtong Night Market. The guy at the reception suggested that I should take the airport bus to Ulsan becos it will be much faster than making a trip to Nopo-dong Bus Terminal or Haeundae Bus Terminal. Great advice but it would also mean that all my research done on getting to Ulsan is useless and I was not sure where will the airport bus drop me at Ulsan. I did an online search and it said the bus will stop at Taehwa rotary. Aiyo...where is Taehwa rotary??? How far is it away from Sinjeong Sang-ga Market or Daewangam Park?? I have a feeling it is not far from Sinjeong Sang-ga Market. Aiya heck. Just go!!

I must have my breakfast to start the day ㅋㅋㅋBought this delicious squid burger 오징어 버거 from Lotteria.Its a bit spicy but so nice ^^I preferred this to the shrimp burger.

It was about 8am when I took the Light Rail to Gimhae Aiport. This is the view from the Light Rail. Actually, I wanted to check out 삼락생태공원 Samnak Riverside Sports Park which is not far from my hotel. Is this the one or something similar? Hmmm...maybe the scenery will be nicer in a month's time.

I couldn't find my way to 동래읍성 Dongnae Eupseong Fortress and decided to give up becos it was almost 7pm. I think I burnt up a fair amount of calories becos I really walked a lot a lot a lot....Hmmm...I did not feel tired after all the walking and the lack of sleep from the night flight. The guy at the reception told me that he will bring my luggage up to my room if I did not come back by check-in time. BTW, there is elevator in the building.

And he did.

우와 ...Jungle theme..

I don't like jungle theme but I like my room ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ

I tried to access to my blog but I don't know why the internet was very slow.I gave up in the end.

One of the most important thing for me in the room, is to be able to control the air con temperature. I don't like those centralised air conditioning.

Heheheheee.....I love bath tubs becos I can use my essential oil for a good warm soak ^^

I took the subway to Dongnae Station, exit 2 for 동래할매파전 Dongrae Halmae Pajeon. 동래파전 Dongnae pajeon is a local cuisine and 동래할매파전 Dongrae Halmae Pajeon is known for its Dongnae pajeon(of course). Cross the road in front of exit 2 and walk straight.

Keep on walking straight and you will see this zebra crossing. Cross the road and continue to walk straight.

You will see a carpark. It took me about 10 mins to reach here. I turned right instead of walking through the carpark but I think you can walk through the carpark and turn right. 동래할매파전 Dongrae Halmae Pajeon is somewhere on the right(I think).

I took the route shown by the blue line. You will see motels along the stretch from point 4 to 6. The red dotted line was the route I mentioned about walking through from the carpark. I am not sure but you can try. The green dotted line was the route I attempted to get to 동래읍성 Dongnae Eupseong Fortress after my meal but somehow I got lost. I was pretty sure that I was on the correct track initially ㅠㅠ 너무 슬 becos I was so looking forward to check out the place ㅠㅠ ㅠㅠ ㅠㅠ Perhaps there's a reason and the reason is for me to be back in Busan again ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ

Reached ^^

오모! They have different types of Dongdong Ju!! I was sooooooo tempted but I didn't...

I like their 반찬 ^^

I ordered a small pajeon.Dongnae Halmae Pajeon contains scallions, various kinds of seafood and beef. Since I can't take beef, I requested not to add beef in my pajeon. I was lucky becos the lady at the reception can understand and speak fluent English ^^

I don't like my pajeon to have a lot of flour but Dongnae Pajeon was cooked in a thick batter of flour. I tried to eat as much as I could but I still did not manage to finish the whole pajeon. This was the last bit of it. Don't be mistaken, I removed two shrimps before taking this picture. The pajeon was not as bare as this. Ermmm...yeah only two shrimps ㅎㅎ I still prefer the pajeon I ate at Pajeon Alley Really "no fight".

This drink was served towards the end of the meal. What drink is this???I love it! Its sweet ^^

The check-in time was 2pm, so I left my luggage at the reception to visit 용궁사 Yonggungsa Temple. The guy at the reception was very helpful. I did not ask for his name but he looks like the owner of the hotel. I casually told him that I wanted to go to 까멜리아장사도해상공원 but not sure of the timing of the ferry. Before I knew it, he was busy checking out information for me using his ipad and calling up the place.

Although I like the drama, "별에서 온 그대" a lot but strangely, it did not occur to me to visit the filming location until SY reminded me a week before my trip ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Thank you. It was sort of a last minute decision to check out the island. In fact, I contemplated to go or not to go becos there was so limited information in English on getting to the island. Both KTO(Korea) and KTO(Sg) gave me very different answers to my questions and I was confused by their replies. My main concern was the timetable of the ferry becos KTO Korea told me sometimes the tickets can be easily fully booked and it is better to visit Tongyeong Excursion Ship Terminal as soon as possible.

Anyway, I took the subway to Haeundae
Station, exit 7 for bus no. 181 to Yonggungsa temple.Walk straight from exit 7 and you will see a bus stop .

Oh dear....This was not helpful to me...How do I know whether I am at the correct bus stop ㅠㅠ

I followed my gut feeling and managed to board bus no. 181 at 12.53pm.BTW, I used cash bee card. There was only verbal announcement of the bus stops names in Korean.

I reached the bus stop for 용궁사 Yonggungsa Temple at 1.16pm. With your back facing the main road, turn to your right after getting off the bus.

Walk straight for about 1-2 mins and you will reach a zebra crossing.You don't have to cross the road but turn to your left as shown.The bus stop shown in the picture was where I took bus no. 181 for my return trip.

Turn left and walk straight.It was very warm but good weather.

Here's the entrance to the temple.I reached here at 1.26pm.

The road leading to the temple was lined with stalls selling souvenirs and street food.

십이지상The twelve zodiac figures.

The place was really nice and my pictures do not justify it ㅠㅠ

우와 .....Red Dragon Bridge.

This was the bus stop where I took bus no.181 back to Haeundae
Station. There is only one bus at this bus stop. I left the temple at 2.20pm and got onto bus no.181 at 2.36pm. Reached Haeundae
Station at 3.01pm. If I did not remember wrongly, there was English announcement of the bus stops names for Haeundae
Station and Yonggungsa Temple. Whether you can catch it a not, its another thing..Up next is FOOD!

Wednesday, 26 March 2014

I reached Gimhae Airport at around 10.30am. My accomodation in Busan was near the airport and walking distance from Sasang Station, exit 5. Therefore, I decided to take the Light Rail to Sasang Station.

The Airport Light Rail Station is located opposite the airport.

Sasang Station is the third station from Gimhae Airport. I only saw this exit and another exit after I tapped my cash bee card. I could not see exit 5. Two students approached me with a board and stickers when I was looking hard at the map on the wall. One of them asked me to rate his smile from a scale of 1-5. Hmmmm....he wasn't smiling when he approached me. He only smiled when I tried to observe his smile ㅎㅎㅎ

I did not want to be mean, so I gave him the rating of 1 which means excellent. I was glad that I gave him a good rating becos he asked me where I wanted to go. Both of them had no idea where was exit 5. He asked me to wait a moment, while he approached a staff at the station. Guess what. The staff did not know where is exit 5. HUH!! I think he could not be bothered with the student. Poor student. He did not give up and use his smartphone to check for me. Although his directions was vague but I truely appreciate his help and time. I SHOULD HAVE TAKEN A PICTURE WITH THEM!!!!

And so.....I took the elevator to the first level and reached the main road as shown. Fortunately, I still remember the building across the road. I have seen it in my previous trip to Seobu Intercity Bus Terminal. My accommodation was around that area as shown by the arrow. There is an easier way to reach exit 5. Take the elevator or the escalator to the BASEMENT and not level 1!!! The Light Rail station(Sasang) is connected to Sasang Station. I only realised my mistake much later ㅎㅎㅎ

I remember this building ^^

Seobu Intercity Bus Terminal is behind this building.

My accommodation is behind this orange building.

That's Seobu Intercity Bus Terminal as shown by the arrow. I booked my accommodation via Agoda and chose to stay near Seobu Intercity Bus Terminal becos of my trip to 통영. I did not think about the accessibility to other places, as all I could think of was 통영 ㅎㅎㅎ

The alley behind the orange colour building. I took a shortcut to my accommodation by cutting through CU convenience store.Walk along this alley towards the bus terminal.The alley will lead to a right bend.

You will see another alley after turning right and on the right, would be my accommodation.

Found it ^^My accommodation in Busan was 9월 Hotel.

It should take around 10mins from the Light Rail Station to reach here.

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안녕하세요 ^^ I love Korea but I'm always proud to be a Singaporean! This blog is to share anything of what I love and find interesting of Korea. There are still many things that I do not know about Korea but I hope that my trips’ experiences will be of some help to people who are planning to visit Korea on their own for the first time ^^ All information such as directions, bus schedules, existence of shops/places etc furnished in this blog is subjected to changes by the relevant authorities. I do not have the time to check and give the latest updates. Hope you understand. Thank you.